While increased awareness, diagnostic advances and molecularly-targeted therapies have improved breast cancer outcomes, mortality and morbidity remain high. 296,000 new diagnoses and 39,000 fatalities of breast cancer were expected in 2013 in U.S. women. Early detection and screening methods result in a favorable prognostic outlook for women diagnosed with breast cancer. In contrast, patients who present with evidence of metastatic disease have a five-year survival rate of 24% (American Cancer Society, 2014. Cancer Facts & Figures 2014. Atlanta). These statistics indicate that breast cancer can be managed with the current standard of care, when the patient presents with cancer confined to the site of origin. The dramatic reduction in survival rates upon evidence of metastasis suggests an urgent need to focus on the development of therapies/technologies designed to detect and eliminate metastatic cancer.
Accordingly, there exists the need for new reagents for the detection and treatment of cancer, in particular, therapies and reagents capable of effecting therapeutic and diagnostic benefits.